Lawsuit Accuses a Top Chef of Wage and Tip Violations

Tom Colicchio, the celebrity restaurateur and judge on Bravo’s popular “Top Chef” television show, was sued in federal court on Thursday by a former waitress who accused his company of misappropriating employee tips, withholding some overtime pay and sometimes failing to pay minimum wage. Mr. Colicchio’s restaurants — including Craft, Craftbar and Craftsteak — were also named in the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, the waitress, Nessa Rapone, who used to work at the bustling Craftbar restaurant at 900 Broadway, between 19th and 20th Streets, asserted that Mr. Colicchio’s company, Craft Worldwide Holdings, improperly shared employee tips with supervisors, did not keep proper time records and fired her when she protested.

The lawyers for Ms. Rapone, a Brooklyn resident who worked at Craftbar from March to May 2007, are seeking class-action status for the lawsuit, which was filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan. It accused management of federal and state wage law violations, including failing to pay workers time and a half for all hours worked beyond 40 a week. It also asserts that management shared employee tips with other workers who were not eligible under federal and state law to share in the tip pool.

Ms. Rapone’s lawsuit also accused the company of not compensating her for the cleaning and care of the uniform that she was required to wear at Craftbar.

“The Craft restaurants, all upscale establishments designed by well-known architects and catered by award-winning chefs, have earned Mr. Colicchio and his partners great success,” one of Ms. Rapone’s lawyers, Justin M. Swartz, said in a statement on Friday. “This success, however, has come at the expense of the restaurants’ hourly service workers to whom the defendants have denied proper minimum wages, overtime compensation, and tips they earned from customers.”

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Tom ColicchioCredit
Bravo Media

Reached by telephone on Friday, Tom Colicchio said: “It’s a baseless lawsuit. We’re confident that a thorough investigation in the courts will find that Craftbar and Craft Worldwide Holdings have conducted themselves with the highest integrity and concern for the well-being of their employees.”

Mr. Colicchio said that his company’s restaurants “pay overtime to all tipped and nontipped employees according to federal and state labor law.”

Some restaurant workers said they turned to lawyers rather than the federal or state Labor Departments because government officials often respond more slowly. Also, in New York, the Labor Department usually seeks just two years of back wages, while lawyers often file claims covering six years of back pay.

A version of this article appears in print on , on page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: Lawsuit Accuses a Top Chef Of Wage and Tip Violations. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe